WCH

Nick Madrigal, IF

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Scouting report

Because he missed time with a separated shoulder (both of Madrigal's major injuries -- this one and a fractured wrist in college -- were suffered sliding into a base), Madrigal didn't play enough big league baseball to lose rookie eligibility, but he did play enough to generate a relevant amount of data. After posting the lowest swinging strike rate in all of the minor leagues in 2019, he had the third-lowest swinging strike rate in the big leagues in 2020 at 3.3%. The players who surround him on that leaderboard -- Luis Arraez, Eric Sogard, and David Fletcher -- are all similar offensive players who make elite rates of contact but have almost no power. More precisely, Madrigal is most like Arraez because of how opposite-field oriented their contact is. If you prorate Fletcher and Arraez's performance over the past few years, they're pretty well above-average players, and Madrigal is a better defensive player than Arraez and is a wash with Fletcher at second. I just think this reinforces the industry's long-standing eyeball evaluation that even though he's quite small and is not going to hit for power, Madrigal is a very good player. (Alternate site, MLB)